ROME (Reuters) - There are far too many boats fishing for
tuna in the Mediterranean, putting further strain on stocks of
a species already threatened with extinction, environmental
group WWF said in a report published on Wednesday.

Atlantic bluefin tuna, sometimes described as "floating
goldmines" due to their spectacular price tag when sold for
sushi, are under threat from over-fishing and an international
agreement sets quotas on how many each country can land.

But in a study into the number and size of fishing vessels,
WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund, found there were at
least one third more boats than needed to meet legal quotas.

"It is crazy," said WWF's Sergi Tudela. "The numerous new
fleets are so modern and costly that fishermen are forced to
fish illegally just to survive -- and worse still they are
fishing themselves out of a job."

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Atlantic bluefin tuna, which spawn in the Gulf of Mexico
and the Mediterranean, can be worth $10,000-15,000 each in
Japan, where they are eaten raw as sushi.

WWF said the quotas, agreed at the International Commission
for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), are too lax to
protect the fish, but even those limits are being flouted.

The conservation group said many countries, including
Italy, Spain, Croatia and Libya, do not declare their full
catches of tuna -- circumventing the quotas which are meant to
ensure the species survives massive demand from gourmets.

While the actual amount of over-fishing can be hard to
estimate, the size of the fleet indicates it must be happening
on a large scale. WWF said the Mediterranean fleet should shed
229 of its 617 vessels to remain within the quotas.

"At a minimum, the report shows, Mediterranean fleets would
have to fish 42,000 tons of tuna just to cover costs --
implying some 13,000 tons of illegal catch," it said.

The group -- which is promoting a boycott of bluefin tuna
among consumers, restaurants and retailers -- said the European
Union had granted 18 million euros of subsidies into growing
the tuna fishing fleet between 1993 and 2006.